Abraham ben Solomon Conat (flourished at

Mantua Mantua ( ; it, Mantova ; Lombard and la, Mantua) is a city and '' comune'' in Lombardy, Italy, and capital of the province of the same name. In 2016, Mantua was designated as the Italian Capital of Culture. In 2017, it was named as the Eur ...

in the second half of the 15th century) was an Italian Jewish printer,

Talmudist The Talmud (; he, , Talmūḏ) is the central text of Rabbinic Judaism and the primary source of Jewish religious law (''halakha'') and Jewish theology. Until the advent of modernity, in nearly all Jewish communities, the Talmud was the center ...

, and physician. He obtained the title of '' ḥaber'' (associate of a

rabbi A rabbi () is a spiritual leader or religious teacher in Judaism. One becomes a rabbi by being ordained by another rabbi – known as ''semikha'' – following a course of study of Jewish history and texts such as the Talmud. The basic form of ...

) for his learning, but displayed it chiefly in the choice of works selected by him for printing, which art he and his wife Estellina expressly learned. He embarked upon the business of printing at Mantua in 1476, and became celebrated as one of the earliest printers of Hebrew books in Europe, producing the third to the tenth of Hebrew '' incunabula'' as recorded by

Giovanni Bernardo De Rossi Giovanni Bernardo De Rossi (October 25, 1742 in Castelnuovo Nigra, Piedmont – March 23, 1831 in Parma) was an Italian Christian Hebraist. He studied in Ivrea and Turin. In October 1769, he was appointed professor of Oriental languages at the U ...

. In 1475 he established a printing-office at Mantua, from which he issued: * '' Tur Orah Hayyim'', by R.

Jacob ben Asher Jacob ben Asher (c. 1269 - c. 1343), also known as Ba'al ha-Turim as well as Rabbi Yaakov ben Raash (Rabbeinu Asher), was an influential Medieval rabbinic authority. He is often referred to as the Ba'al ha-Turim ("Master of the Columns"), after ...

(1476) * '' Tur Yoreh De'ah'', by the same author, only one-third of which, however, was printed by him, the rest being executed at Ferrara * ''Behinat Olam'', by

Jedaiah Bedersi Jedaiah ben Abraham Bedersi (c. 1270 – c. 1340) ( he, ) was a Jewish poet, physician, and philosopher; born at Béziers (hence his surname Bedersi). His Occitan name was En Bonet, which probably corresponds to the Hebrew name Tobiah;compar ...

, in which Conat was assisted by his wife Estellina and Jacob Levi of Tarascon * The commentary on the

Pentateuch The Torah (; hbo, ''Tōrā'', "Instruction", "Teaching" or "Law") is the compilation of the first five books of the Hebrew Bible, namely the books of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. In that sense, Torah means the ...

Levi ben Gershon Levi ben Gershon (1288 – 20 April 1344), better known by his Graecized name as Gersonides, or by his Latinized name Magister Leo Hebraeus, or in Hebrew by the abbreviation of first letters as ''RaLBaG'', was a medieval French Jewish philosoph ...

(Ralbag) * ''Luhot'', astronomical tables giving the length of day at different times of the year, by Mordecai Finzi * '' Sefer Yosippon'', the pseudo-Josephus or Gorionides * ''

Eldad ha-Dani Eldad ben Maḥli ha-Dani ( he, אֶלְדָּד בֶּן מַחְלִי הַדָּנִי, 'Eldad son of Mahli the Danite') () was a ninth-century Jewish merchant, traveller, and philologist. Though probably originally from South Arabia, he profes ...

'' * ''Nofet Ẓufim'', the rhetoric of Messer Leon (Judah). This was the first book published featuring the work of a living Jewish author. All these books were printed between 1476 and 1480, when the business was suspended on account of the rivalry of Abraham ben Ḥayyim at Ferrara. Abraham Conat was proud of his work; he used to accompany his name in the colophons by the words "Who writes with many pens without the help of miracles, for the spread of the Torah in Israel." He was especially delighted that four pages could be printed at one time on a large sheet, and that he could produce two thousand pages every day. His type was of such a shape that his editions are often taken for manuscripts.

References

, Annals, pp. 8–11, 110–114, 177; * Zunz, Z. G. pp. 249, 250; * Moritz Steinschneider, Cat. Bodl. col. 2866, No. 7957; *Steinschneider and Cassel, Jüdische Typographie, in Ersch and Gruber, Encyc. section ii., part 28, p. 34; *Wolf, Bibl. Hebr. i. 67, No. 102; *

Julius Fürst Julius Fürst (; 12 May 1805, Żerków, South Prussia – 9 February 1873, Leipzig), born Joseph Alsari, was a Jewish German orientalist and the son of noted maggid, teacher, and Hebrew grammarian Jacob Alsari. Fürst was a distinguished scho ...

, Bibl. Jud. i. 185; * D. Chwolson, in Sbornik, St. Petersburg, 1896, pp. 3, 6, 7; *Chwolson Jubilee Volume, p. 68.

External links

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Conat, Abraham 15th-century Italian Jews 15th-century Italian businesspeople Italian printers Printers of incunabula Year of birth unknown Year of death unknown